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About the Inspector General's Office

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Mission & History of the Inspector General

Created in 1981, the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General was the first statewide inspector general's office in the country. The Office's mission is to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse in the expenditure of public funds. The Office conducts investigations, intervenes in situations before fraud and waste occurs, disseminates lessons and best practices, and builds the capacity of public officials by providing technical training and assistance.

Recent Investigation Outcomes

Some of the reviews and investigations conducted by the Office lead to judicial and administrative actions. Other matters lead to cost recovery for the Commonwealth or local cities and towns. For a brief summary of some of these cases please refer to our Recent Investigation Outcomes page. For a more comprehensive summary of our publicly available cases please see our Publications page.

Annual Reports

Every year the Office of the Inspector General responds to scores of complaints, initiates dozens of investigations and trains hundreds of government employees. While much of our work is confidential, our annual reports detail completed projects that can be made public.

Our Annual Reports dating back to 1995 are available online. Older reports may be available by request please call (617) 727-9140 or send a written request.

Office of the Inspector General Room 1311, One Ashburton PlaceBoston, MA 02108

You are welcome to contact the Office of the Inspector General to report fraud, waste, and abuse and to ask questions related to Chapter 30B, Chapter 40B or other matters pertaining to public funds expenditures.

Complementary Content

2016 Reports & Recommendations

This report is a further examination of the Work Program Requirement for the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children program administered by the Department of Transitional Assistance. Part One of this report is focused on the implementation of the Pathways to Self-Sufficiency program outlined in the 2014 Welfare Reform Statute. Part Two is focused on larger contextual issues related to the Work Program Requirement and the opportunities for collaboration across secretariats related to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant and the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act. The Bureau’s initial report is available at: BPI Review of the Work Program Requirement for TAFDC file size 1MB.

The Office reviewed the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s (“MassDOT”) procurement for towing services on the Massachusetts Turnpike that began in 2013. The Office found that MassDOT’s Procurement Management Team (“PMT”) violated the agency’s procurement rules in several ways. The Office also found evidence of favoritism toward one company and bias against that company’s competitors. The Office’s review also determined that MassDOT failed to administer the existing towing contract properly, resulting in lost revenue. MassDOT cancelled the procurement when the Office began its review, and sought new bids in July 2016. The new procurement incorporated many of the Office’s recommendations.

After reviewing demographic information about approximately 1.7 million Medicaid members, the Office issued a letter to the MassHealth Medicaid program (“program”) relating to the following issues: (1) there are what appear to be facially invalid Social Security Numbers (e.g., 111-11-1111) for active members in the Medicaid Management Information System (“MMIS”); (2) MMIS associates more than one member with at least 2,723 Social Security Numbers; (3) MMIS continues to list members as active even though MMIS contains dates of death for them; and (4) the program paid more than $5 million in claims for members after their reported dates of death. The Office made recommendations and requested that the program submit a plan to address these issues by September 17, 2016.

The Office identified significant internal control and oversight deficiencies by the Burlington Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners concerning the use of the Authority’s credit cards. These deficiencies enabled the former Executive Director to use the card for her own personal purposes.

In February 2016, the former Executive Director was convicted of knowingly using her official position to secure an unwarranted privilege in connection with her personal use of the Authority’s credit card. See Former Burlington HA Official Pleaded Guilty for more information.

The Office has begun a review of South Hadley Electric Light Department’s policies on accrual of leave and compensation for unused leave after being notified that the longtime manager claimed he was entitled to nearly $500,000 in compensation for earned leave. Based on its review to date, the Office found that Doerpholz’s claim relied on a faulty reading of his contract and violated the terms of SHELD’s personnel policies. The Office found that under SHELD’s policies and his contract, Doerpholz was owed a maximum of $15,149 for vacation time and was currently not entitled to any payout for sick time.

The Office reviewed a complaint of possible time abuse by a full-time employee of the Ashland Board of Health who simultaneously held contracts with the boards of health in Sherborn and Norfolk and served in an elected position in the City of Marlborough. The Office identified timekeeping deficiencies, internal control weaknesses and other issues. The Office requested that the towns and the city conduct a review, address the Office’s recommendations and submit responses by June 30, 2016.